High school football is the truest form of sports Americana.
Fans across the country and in all 50 states rally around their local teams on Friday nights each fall as student-athletes represent their communities on the gridiron.
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The achievements of these players usually go unheralded on a national level. But their athletic feats can be just as impressive as the NFL records held by stars such as Jerry Rice, Drew Brees and Emmitt Smith.
With that in mind, we celebrate the most unbreakable national records in prep football history and the statistical savants who set those marks.
Source: National Federation of State High School Associations record book
Jake Browning
School: Folsom (California)
Record: Most touchdown passes, career
Noteworthy: From 2011 through 2014, Browning threw 229 touchdown passes, 10 more than the previous record held by Ohio high school star Maty Mauk. As a senior, Browning tied the national single season mark of 91 touchdown passes, equaling the 2007 feat of Corey Robinson of Lone Oak High in Paducah, Kentucky. Browning went on to star at the University of Washington and currently is a backup quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
Maty Mauk
School: Kenton (Ohio)
Record: Total yards, career
Noteworthy: Mauk may have relinquished his career passing touchdowns mark to future University of Washington star Jake Browning, but that hasn’t wiped him out of the record books. The Ohio high school legend still holds the mark for combined passing and rushing yards: 22,681, set from 2008 through 2011. He also holds the national record for most career completions with 1,353.
Larry Bennett
School: Mogadore (Ohio)
Record: Most receptions, single game
Noteworthy: What’s more impressive, that Bennett caught 32 passes in a game or that he was targeted more than 32 times? Either way, Bennett put forward one of the most dominant performances in history during a 1942 game against Hudson. The closest anyone has come to that mark in the 78 seasons since is Jeff Clark of Nitro (West Virginia) with 29 in a 1999 game.
Grant Sherman
School: Kenton (Ohio)
Record: Most completions, single game
Noteworthy: Maty Mauk wasn’t the only player to cash in on Kenton’s explosive offensive system. Sherman sits atop everyone else in the list of quarterbacks with the most completions in a single game. Sherman connected on 58 passes against Bryan in 2013, two years after Mauk wrapped up his record-setting career at Kenton.
Baron Jackson
School: Southern Lab (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
Record: Most interceptions, career
Noteworthy: Jackson averaged more than an interception per game over the course of his high school career. His 62 career picks from 1984 through 1987 is a remarkable statistic that has hardly been challenged, even as passing offense has proliferated across high school football. He went on to play at the University of Pittsburgh.
Michael Boyle
School: Plymouth Regional (New Hampshire)
Record: Most punt return touchdowns, career
Noteworthy: Boyle returned 15 punts for touchdowns between 2000 and 2003. Impressive. Now consider that the NFL career leader in punt return touchdowns is Devin Hester, with 14 — and he had 10 seasons to reach that. The closest challenger to Boyle’s mark is Steven Coleman of Brundidge Pike County (Alabama), with 12 from 1986 through 1989.
Kevin Parks Jr.
School: West Rowan (Mount Ulla, North Carolina)
Record: Most games with 100-plus yards of offense, career
Noteworthy: That Kevin Parks Jr. played in 55 high school football games is impressive. That he topped 100 yards of total offense in 55 games is absolutely remarkable. The 2009 graduate went on to play at Virginia, where he ranks fifth in career rushing yards in school history and sixth in career touchdowns.
John Giannantonio
School: Netcong (New Jersey)
Record: Rushing yards, single game
Noteworthy: Giannantonio accomplished in a game what many aspire to in a season. The now legendary back carried the ball for 754 yards and nine touchdowns in a 61-0 victory against Mountain Lakes in his sophomore season at now-defunct Netcong High in 1950. Thanks in part to that, Giannantonio finished with an average of 594.5 rushing yards per game that season, also a national record.
Michael Hart
School: Onondaga (Nedrow, New York)
Record: Most points, career
Noteworthy: While leading Onondaga to a 46-1 record and three state championships, Hart set national records for most points (1,246) and rushing touchdowns (204) in a career. He also ranks No. 3 in career rushing yards with 11,045. Hart went on to star at the University of Michigan, finishing fifth in Heisman Trophy voting in 2006.
Arthur Smith
School: Cozad (Nebraska)
Record: Most touchdown passes, single game
Noteworthy: When it comes to touchdown passes, one has to go back nearly a century to find the high water mark. Smith threw 15 touchdown passes in a single contest against Overton High in 1921. No one else has thrown more than 10 touchdowns in a sanctioned varsity game.
Ken Hall
School: Sugar Land (Texas)
Record: Most yards per carry, single game (minimum 10 attempts)
Noteworthy: The legendary Sugar Land Express set 17 national records between 1950 and 1953, but this one endures. Hall gained 520 yards on 11 carries in a 1953 victory against Houston Lutheran (47.3 yards per carry). A single-wing quarterback, Hall finished his high school career with 14,558 yards of total offense (11,232 rushing and 3,326 passing).
Derrick Henry
School: Yulee (Florida)
Record: Most rushing yards, career
Noteworthy: These days Derrick Henry is paid to be the bell cow back for the Tennessee Titans. Before that, he starred in a similar role at the University of Alabama and Yulee High School. Henry wrapped his scholastic career with 12,144 yards gained between 2009 and 2012. A three-sport athlete, Henry also scored 153 career rushing touchdowns.
Jacob Finer
School: Utica Free Academy (New York)
Record: Most blocked punts, single game
Noteworthy: Any time a player registers a blocked punt it’s reasonable to consider that a game-changing moment. So what happens when one player blocks eight punts in a single game? You might as well call off the whole contest. That’s what happened in 1926, when Finer got his hands on eight punts by opposing Fulton.
